Morning Wire XX
[0] The CEOs of every major U .S. airline are calling on President Biden to lift the federal mask mandate on transportation.
[1] You know, the air on board the airplane, you know, it gets recycled every three minutes.
[2] We have hepha falters.
[3] So we believe it's going to be safe, especially with the level infections across the country.
[4] After two years, will Americans be traveling mask -free again soon?
[5] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[6] It's Friday, March 25th, and this is Morning Wire.
[7] The investigations into Hunter Biden have ramped up and are becoming difficult for the White House to ignore.
[8] We examine the charges and their implications for the president.
[9] And NATO members hold an emergency summit in Belgium to address Russia's war on Ukraine.
[10] What actions are the countries willing to take to stop Putin's aggression?
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
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[21] Weeks after the Biden administration extended the mask mandate for airports and airlines, several of the largest airline CEOs signed a letter asking for the mandates to be lifted.
[22] Here is more on the state of the mandate and the growing bipartisan support for its reversal is Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
[23] So Cabot, anytime the CEOs of rival companies team up for anything, it's noteworthy, what can you tell us about this letter they sent?
[24] Yeah, you don't typically see this type of unity from competing businesses, but the CEOs of Delta, American, United, Alaska, Southwest, and every major airline beyond that, signed a joint letter to the White House saying, quote, now is the time for the administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions.
[25] They went on to call the existing mandates, quote, no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment.
[26] They also asked the president to lift the current measure that requires foreign visitors to the U .S. to show a negative COVID test before entering.
[27] And they called out what they view as hypocrisy and current government mandates saying, quote, it makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools, and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective airfiltration system that aircraft do.
[28] A pretty strong message there about the inconsistency of some of these policies.
[29] Tell us about the timing here.
[30] Why is this happening now?
[31] Well, the mask mandate was actually set to expire on March 18th, and some airlines reportedly had expected it to stay that way.
[32] But the Biden administration announced state renewed the order for at least another month.
[33] It's actually the third time the order has expired and then been re -implemented by the president.
[34] But this most recent renewal comes at a time when the rest of the country is really moving in the opposite direction on mask mandates.
[35] So airlines and other transportation things like Uber and other ride sharing agreements are really the last industry where this is universal.
[36] They say that's putting an unfair burden on them as well as their staff.
[37] The latter cited the fact that their employees are being put in a tough position having to enforce this mandate that is becoming so deeply unpopular.
[38] They also cited the thousands of in -flight incidents that have been reported because of altercations over masks.
[39] Now, these airlines had largely stayed silent on the mandates throughout the pandemic, and the fact they're speaking out so strongly now, it does feel like a turning point.
[40] And Congress seems to agree with ending the mandate.
[41] Can you tell us about the recent vote?
[42] Yeah, Senator Rand Paul introduced a bill on March 15th that would have overturned the mandate, and it actually passed with a 5740 vote with the support of eight Democrats.
[43] It's worth noting four of those Democrats who broke with their party are up for re -election this November.
[44] Also, the only Republican who voted to keep the mandate in place was Mitt Romney of Utah, who, again, is no stranger to breaking with TOP ranks.
[45] President Biden responded to the vote almost immediately, saying he veto it or any other similar legislation that came to his desk.
[46] But again, the fact that there was by parts in support is pretty significant.
[47] Yeah, so we have bipartisan support, but Biden standing in the way of it.
[48] So how has the White House responded so far?
[49] So the White House hasn't addressed this new letter from airline leaders directly, but a few weeks ago, they said that they would consult with the CDC and other pertinent agencies to make a decision when the time was right.
[50] So kind of vague on their thinking there, but they are in a tough spot at this point politically.
[51] Polling consistently shows that mask mandates are becoming more and more and popular.
[52] And as all 50 states have now lifted indoor mask mandates, there's less of an existing precedent for them to point to in order to justify maintaining the current mandate.
[53] Right.
[54] We've noted that shift in public sentiment a few times on this show.
[55] In fact, we're seeing some of that lead to a shift in messaging from Democrats, correct?
[56] Yeah, we've talked on the show about how the Democrat message has really shifted on COVID as public sentiment has changed.
[57] And President Biden is no exception.
[58] But in this case, his actions aren't really in line with his messaging.
[59] And the airline CEOs, actually addressed that in the letter, saying, quote, given that we've entered a different phase of dealing with this virus, we strongly support your view that COVID -19 need no longer control our lives.
[60] That last part there was a reference to a line of the presidents from the State of the Union just earlier this month.
[61] So definitely it feels like momentum is building here with bipartisan support from the Senate and now support from leaders in the airline industry as well.
[62] Sounds like we may be flying mask -free soon.
[63] Gabbit, thanks for the update.
[64] Anytime.
[65] That's DailyWire's Cabot, Phil.
[66] Coming up, a federal investigation into President Biden's son ramps up, as more Americans say, they're concerned about conflicts of interest in Ukraine and Russia.
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[70] New polling by the Trafalgar Group found that a majority of Americans, including 64 % of independence, believe that President Biden has conflicts of interest in Ukraine and Russia.
[71] The findings come after the New York Times confirmed the authenticity of problematic emails from Hunter Biden's laptop.
[72] Meanwhile, a federal probe of Hunter Biden appears to be ratcheting up.
[73] Here to discuss is Peter Schweitzer, president of GAI and best -selling author of Red -Handed.
[74] Welcome, Peter.
[75] Great to be with you, John.
[76] Thanks.
[77] So, Peter, this federal probe into Hunter Biden ramped up in 2018, paused in 2020 due to the pandemic, but now it's back on.
[78] First, what is the president's son being investigated for?
[79] There appears to be four major areas they're looking at.
[80] One is tax evasion that he failed to pay millions of dollars in taxes from money that came overseas.
[81] There's also allegations potentially of money laundering that would be moving money around for maybe foreign oligarchs or other people who are trying to hide assets.
[82] The third, Third thing that they're looking at is violations of the so -called Fair Act, Foreign Agents Registration Act, which means if you lobby the U .S. government asking them for some kind of action on behalf of a foreign actor, you were required to register with the Department of Justice that's something Hunter Biden didn't do.
[83] And finally, they're looking at the possibility of political corruption.
[84] Was there payments being made to Hunter Biden because they wanted something from his father?
[85] Right.
[86] These claims of influence peddling, how does this connect to Ukraine and Russia?
[87] Well, what's interesting is, you know, Hunter Biden was doing these deals precisely at the time that his father was the named point person on U .S. policy towards Ukraine.
[88] So there's a certain, at minimum, coincidence there.
[89] And the allegation is that Ukrainian oligarchs wanted certain favorable treatments from Joe Biden because he had so much pull on the aid dollars coming into the country and what the U .S. posture would be that they basically gave Hunter Biden this energy job of a million dollars a year, even though he had no background and experience in Ukraine or energy.
[90] The same could be said as it relates to China policy and Russia policy as well, because Hunter Biden had dealings there while his father was also driving U .S. policy in those areas during the Obama administration.
[91] Okay, so those are examples of Hunter Biden allegedly using his family name to benefit himself.
[92] Are there direct implications for Joe Biden?
[93] There are a couple of direct implications.
[94] first of all, he not only was using the family name, there's evidence actually in the Hunter Biden laptop that meetings were set up.
[95] And some of those meetings were off the books, meaning they did not appear on the White House visitors' logs.
[96] So there seems to have been some kind of access granted, whether that's illegal or not, of course, is another question.
[97] The other way it involves Joe Biden, the president of the United States, is it's clear from the laptop that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden had intertwined finances, meaning Hunter Biden was getting money from these overseas deals.
[98] He was paying some of his father's monthly bills, but he was also paying for things like renovations on his father's home in Delaware, et cetera.
[99] That's patently illegal in the United States.
[100] Politicians can't be subsidized by family members.
[101] And the fact that the money came from overseas, of course, means that that has further implications.
[102] So this does directly involve Joe Biden.
[103] Will the White House and President Biden specifically be able to continue to dismiss the Hunter Biden story, or is this, like the probe, coming to a head?
[104] Well, it's interesting.
[105] I think the reason the New York Times actually ran that story and got cooperation from Team Biden, which they clearly did in the story, is because there's a very real concern that Hunter Biden is actually going to be indicted, at least on the tax charges, if not more.
[106] So I think they're trying to get ahead of the story.
[107] And I think the problem is, is that the Biden team can't really ignore the story because it does involve Hunter, but it doesn't just involve Hunter.
[108] As we discussed earlier, their finances were intertwined.
[109] Joe Biden was a, I guess, indirect beneficiary of these deals.
[110] And certainly the laptop speaks to private meetings that were set up involving Chinese officials or Ukrainian officials meeting with his father as vice president.
[111] So they're not going to be able to ignore this story as they've managed to do now, really going on four years.
[112] We first broke this story in 2018, and their posture has always been, we're not going to talk about it.
[113] I don't think they can afford to do that anymore because things are coming to a head.
[114] Peter, thank you so much for talking with us today.
[115] I enjoyed it.
[116] Thank you.
[117] That was best -selling author of Red -Handed and GAI president, Peter Schweitzer.
[118] A month after Russia's invasion, NATO members met in Brussels to discuss how to help Ukraine.
[119] Here to give us the updates on Ukraine is Daily Wires Ian Howarth.
[120] So, Ian, what are the latest developments in the war?
[121] Well, the biggest update from the war in Ukraine is that world leaders met in Belgium yesterday for a special emergency summit.
[122] First off, they released a joint statement calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to, quote, immediately stop this war and withdraw military forces from Ukraine and call on Belarus to end its complicity.
[123] They also called for a ceasefire and for Russian forces to allow, quote, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and safe passage for civilians, as well as the delivery aid.
[124] This is all while cities like Maripole continued to be under heavy siege and civilians continue to be targeted by Russian airstrikes.
[125] According to Maripole City Council, 15 ,000 residents of the city have also been illegally deported to Russia.
[126] And were there any updates on NATO's involvement in the conflict?
[127] Well, this summit came a day after NATO Secretary General said that the organization was set to approve major increases in the number of troops stationed Eastern in Europe, with new battle groups being placed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, all on NATO's eastern flank.
[128] This increases in the region of 40 ,000 more troops, which strangely mirrors the number of Russian troops who have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner, all gone missing in Ukraine.
[129] Again, according to a NATO official, Russian forces have experienced up to 40 ,000 casualties in just a few weeks.
[130] And NATO also announced that it would continue to provide more specific assistance in areas like cybersecurity, as well as protecting against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
[131] And this is while Ukraine's President Zelensky called on NATO to provide 1 % of its planes and 1 % of its tanks.
[132] He also accused Russia of using phosphorus bombs, killing both adults and children.
[133] And then there's the United Nations who voted to approve a resolution on Thursday to blame Russia for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
[134] They also called for a ceasefire.
[135] In a similar fashion to the last UN vote on a Ukraine -related resolution, though, there were some notable opposition votes, including Belarus, Syria, North Korea, and obviously Russia.
[136] China, again, abstained.
[137] So we know President Biden traveled to Europe to attend this summit.
[138] Are there any reports on actions the U .S. is going to be taking?
[139] Well, there are a few items.
[140] The U .S. will accept up to 100 ,000 Ukrainian refugees, as well as sanctioning more than 300 members of the Russian government, as well as 40 Russian defense companies.
[141] But one last note from the NATO summit before I go, they made it clear that they're at least aware of the importance of China's involvement in this conflict and called out China directly.
[142] But one word was missing from that statement, and that's Taiwan, let alone the fact that no messaging has been provided, which would explain the consequences of China's continued support for Russia.
[143] All right.
[144] Well, Ian, thanks for the insight.
[145] You got it.
[146] Thanks, Georgia.
[147] That's Daily Wires, Ian Howard.
[148] Another story we're tracking this week.
[149] Amid spiking gas prices, California governor Gavin Newsom revealed his plan this week to send $400 to state residents for every registered vehicle.
[150] The current average price for gas in California is $5 .88 per gallon.
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